Nissan Friend-ME – looks better than it sounds: Shanghia Motor Show

The Nissan Friend-ME Concept is a car designed by Nissan on existing underpinnings aimed at the potentially huge ‘Balínghòu’ market of car buyers in China.

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There’s no denying the market for cars in China is huge, and there’s also no denying car makers are falling over themselves to do whatever it takes to get a piece of the action. Which explains the Nissan Friend-ME Concept.

Nissan has built the Friend-ME (which must rank as one of the most useless car monikers ever) to appeal to the potentially huge market of ‘B?línghòu’ buyers, a group of buyers, born in the 1980s, who grew up as single children thanks to China’s ‘One Child’ policy.

Nissan sees this group as totally reliant on their network of friends for support, and has built a car that owners can enjoy with their friends on an equal basis. So every one of the four seats gets full instrumentation – SatNav, Fuel, Speed – and an ‘Oracle Stone’ runs down the centre of the cabin which can display whatever content the occupants want from their connected Smartphones and tablets.

Cosmetically, apart from the ‘Equal’ status interior for drivers and passengers, the Friend-Me has swoopy curves and appealing lines, one of the best-looking Nissan concepts we’ve seen. A concept that does look like it will make production.

Nissan aren’t saying what underpins the Friend-ME, but they do say it’s an existing Nissan with a hybrid powertrain that will offer enough zip for city driving (damned by faint praise on the performance front) and requires a minimum of unique components to manufacture.

François Bancon from Nissan said:

‘Balínghòu‘ males are a huge cohort in the world’s largest market, and they’re now reaching their prime.

Clearly, their tastes will shape automotive trends worldwide for decades to come. So we believe it’s important to listen with respect, and respond by putting dreams within their reach. That’s why Friend-ME is our first proposition in an ongoing dialogue.

And the Friend-ME Concept looks a convincing offering, if Nissan’s research is right. Let’s just hope they come up with a better name for the production version.